NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Lipscomb’s cross country teams will be at the Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky., for the Louisville Classic.

The meet is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. (CT), Saturday, with Gold, Silver and Blue races for both the men’s and women’s sides. The women will compete in a five-kilometer run, while the men will run an 8K.

The Lady Bisons will have athletes competing in each race. In the gold race, which will feature the strongest runners in the women’s field, Lipscomb will send out sophomore Tessa Hoefle and senior Ashley Lehman to lead a contingent of ten Lady Bisons. Hoefle has led the Lady Bisons in each race since Sept. 9.

A strong group of newcomers has joined Lipscomb this fall. Freshmen Minna Fields, Kendra Lobley and Maggie Lawrence will race the Gold race Saturday, while Kaitlyn Llewellyn, Renee Menzie, Lana Hojeij, Megan McClain and Melissa Matis will be in the Silver race.

Several nationally-recognized teams will compete in Louisville; on the women’s side Michigan (13th) and West Virginia (24th) enter the race ranked, while Vanderbilt (30th) will be sending only its B-squad.

The men’s side has athletes running the Silver and Blue races in order for the Bisons to get used to running up front and closing races. Isaiah Greer, junior and current Atlantic Sun male runner of the week, looks to build on his 12th-place finish at last week’s Erik Anderson Invite. Greer has established himself as one of the top runners in the A-Sun this year and sits second in the conference among eight-kilometer races.

Junior Ben Wright also had a big day in Spokane last weekend and looks to build on his personal-best 8K time of 25:52.40s; it lowered his personal-best by more than a minute. He will join Greer in the Silver race.

Eleventh-ranked in the Great Lakes region, Marquette will also battle Lipscomb in Louisville.

Last year in Louisville, Lipscomb dominated the third race, placing Caitlin Anderson, Catherine Beals and Priya Pappu first, second and third on the way to a team victory. The men’s team finished sixth in the third race, led by the departed Jeff Hoover and Wright.

Following the meet in Louisville, the Lipscomb cross country teams will take a week off in preparation for the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival, hosted by the University of Arkansas, Oct. 15.

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